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ERIC Number: EJ1468369
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1356-2517
EISSN: EISSN-1470-1294
Available Date: 0000-00-00
The Politics of Student Belonging: Identity and Purpose
Teaching in Higher Education, v30 n4 p791-804 2025
Belonging is considered to be a positive foundation for students' well-being and success at university; however, in this article, we argue that it is time to think about belonging more critically. This research highlights how students experience and create multiple belongings. Drawing upon empirical data from interviews and video blogs with students in the UK and Australia, we identify how calls for integrated, uniform, approaches to building belonging in universities are unhelpful. Instead, we foreground the situated and political ways in which students make and curate meaningful and purposeful connections and safe spaces. Our research points to the personalised nature of belonging. We show how individual learners often enact belonging in ways that disrupt or challenge institutional assumptions and expectations. We advocate for critical discussions between staff and students related to the affordances of embracing the multiple ways students choose to belong, at different times and in different spaces.
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Australia; United Kingdom (England)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: 1Centre for Research in Assessment and Digital Learning, Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia; 2Surrey Institute of Education, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK; 3Office of the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research), Charles Sturt University, Canberra, Australia